Disappointment crossed a few faces at last week's affordable housing lottery drawing, where 12 lucky people out of 250 applicants were given a chance to purchase a new townhouse at 103 Walnut Street in Toms River.

Mayor Thomas Kelaher hosted the drawing.

"As the mayor of Toms River, I am delighted to hold an affordable housing lottery that offers area families the prospect of owning their own home," he said. "I have seen firsthand how families have suffered with the high cost of living and consider it an honor to be part of the affordable housing lottery."

All eligible applicants had an opportunity to be selected from the pool using the lottery process provided by the New Jersey Housing Affordability Service, a division of the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency.

The 12 townhouses consist of three bedrooms, 2.5 baths, an unfinished basement and a garage, and are priced from $95,344 to $180,318. Lottery applicants were eligible based upon maximum family income.

Eligible family incomes are determined on a sliding scale, based on household size, from $60,888 for a three-person household to $78,477 for a six-person household.

At the drawing, a representative from the New Jersey Housing Affordability Service used a computer program to randomly select 25 names, in the event that the first 12 weren't able to meet mortgage requirements. State employee Natasha Haas handed Kelaher the list of 25 lucky names and as he began to call them out to the approximately 40 people in the room, the silence was deafening. Not one person present at the drawing was selected from the 250 applicants.

Fair Housing officersfrom New Jersey State STEPS (Solutions To End Poverty Soon) Mike McNeil, Lynne Liotino and Carlos Cedeno were on hand, waiting to hear names they might recognize from the list. But none were called. Most of the names called were from the Ocean County area but one entrant's address was from as far away as Jersey City. None were in the audience.

"The need far exceeds the supply," said Jim Valle, president of Homes for All, Inc., a 22- year-old non-profit organization dedicated to providing homes to low-to-moderate income families. "The number of applicants for the 12 townhouses shows the tremendous need out there for affordable housing. It also offers hope that otherwise could not be offered to financially stressed families."

Art Bailey, chairman of Homes for All, said the families selected in the drawing must have a good credit rating and be eligible for a mortgage to become an owner of a Walnut Cove townhouse.

Valle explained that the process is open to anyone. "When you take a family that has had no prospect of owning a home and then offer them that opportunity, you have changed the culture of the family for generations afterwards, giving them a piece of the American dream."

In the audience, Marcy, a nurse who lives in Toms River, sat quietly. Still wearing her scrubs, she said that she learned of the lottery too late and missed the deadline but hopes to get her name in the next lottery.

Valle informed her that Homes for All is working on providing 41 affordable housing units in Berkeley Township. "It should take place around the end of the year," he said.

Council President Gregory P. McGuckin credits the Clergy and People of Conscience for Toms River Work Force Housing for working with township officials to secure the townhouses.

"This is one of the first projects we worked on with the Clergy and People of Conscience and it is a good start. We are looking forward to it being a model for future projects," McGuckin said.

Bank representatives were on hand for the drawing. Pegeen Ford, of O.C.E.A.N., Inc., the non-profit agency that administers the First- Time Homebuyers Program, addressed the crowd with information about the process.

Ford explained that the agency will select one of the participating financial institutions to underwrite each homebuyer's loan. Participating financial institutions are Ocean- First, Investors Savings, Bank of America, Sovereign Bank, Wells Fargo Home Loan, Shore Community Bank and Wachovia Bank. Interest rates and loan procedures are the same for each institution, Ford said. Each applicant will be assigned to one upon issuance of a certificateof completion.

"This is an opportunity for everybody," said Cedeno. "The great number of applicants shows the great need for affordable housing."

Toms River Township needs court approval for the project to receive affordable housing credits to complete the project. A hearing is scheduled for next month. No one objecting to the project has come forward, said officials, who added that last week's lottery winners names cannot be released to the public for confidentially reasons.